In the typical prior art multiple roll holders, the roll support members or spindles are mounted in a fixed relationship with respect to each other. One example of a prior art multiple roll holder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,908--Thompson, which discloses a unitary holder having a left horizontal roll support member and a right horizontal roll support member, each able to support a roll of toilet tissue. U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,669--Earnest, discloses a four roll holder in which a pair of unitary plate members include circular flanges for supporting four rolls of toilet tissue.
One disadvantage of the roll holders disclosed by Thompson and by Earnest is that the relative position or orientation of the rolled products in the holder is determined by the construction of the holder itself. It would be desirable to have a multiple roll holder that is modular in construction and which can be assembled together in a number of different ways so that the user can select the relative position or orientation of each roll on the holder. It would also be desirable to provide the user with the flexibility to mount the multiple roll holder either on a single mounting surface or on two mounting surfaces that form a corner.
One approach for providing a multiple roll holder with selectable positioning or orientation of the rolls is to use a multi-faceted connector of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,632,147--Finger, and 4,129,975--Gabriel. One disadvantage of using a multi-faceted single connector is that each facet has to be adapted to receive the end of a roll support spindle which complicates the design and manufacture of the connector elements. Another disadvantage of using a multi-faceted single connector is that the facets can not be separated from the connector to build multiple single roll holders.
It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide a modular holder in which the parts can be assembled into one multiple roll holder or into several single roll holders.
It is another object of this invention to provide a modular holder for two or more rolled products which can be readily assembled to provide a number of different positioning or orientation of the rolls.
And yet another object of this invention is to provide a modular holder for two or more rolled products which can be readily mounted on either a single mounting surface or on two mounting surfaces that form a corner.